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Josh Wigler (@roundhoward) and Antonio Mazzaro (@acmazzaro) are back tackling your questions and comments in the nuclear fallout from this week’s bonkers episode of The Leftovers.

Josh and Antonio go through the looking glass to talk about the state of the mythology of The Leftovers, what to make of the various teams of people occupying the plot of the this episode, and what they hope and expect the finale episode to do. There’s also a finale draft–the final flag plantings of the season as Josh and Antonio make three predictions each on what they expect the finale to feature and accomplish.

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Josh Wigler is an entertainment journalist who covers Survivor, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and other popular TV shows for The Hollywood Reporter. He's the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy, creator of First One Out, host of Post Show Recaps and The Wiggle Room, and occasional Wanda Shirk impersonator.
He once interviewed Kermit the Frog about The Avengers and The Hunger Games, and hung out with Daryl Dixon and Ted the teddy bear during New Year's... so, you know, he's kind of a big deal. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.

Antonio Mazzaro is a Kentuckian, Lawyer, and Radio/TV/Film graduate of Northern Kentucky University--but he would love it if you didn't hold any of those things against him. Antonio's covered shows including Breaking Bad for Post Show Recaps, and Jack Benny, My Morning Jacket, and the Cincinnati Bearcats are a few of his favorite things. The TV character he would most like to emulate is his hero, Mr. Rogers. Follow Antonio on Twitter: @acmazzaro.

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Josh and Antonio, I have not yet listened to either of your episode 7 recaps, but I started listening to these podcast and basically have binged 3 season’s worth of the Leftovers due to Rob Cesternino’s plug of your guy’s show during Rob and Antonio’s podcasts over Better Call Saul. You guys are great together. The one thing I will say is that your podcasts makes me want to watch Lost which you refer to a lot, Thanks for the great job and keep it up.

GeekFurious

My predictions:

1. Matt survives… and we are left to wonder if god was God.

2. Nora doesn’t go anywhere and we are left to wonder if it was divine intervention, bad luck, or the tech was fake.

3. Laurie Garvey’s “death” is dealt with on some level. Either her body washes up or we see/hear a report about a diver who disappeared.

4. Dogs will be important to the plot! Thankfully, Antonio can’t quit the show after this season like he did FARGO when he was wrong (shade! SHADE! I still love you, though!).

5. I believe Australian lady either doesn’t believe Kevin is “The Kevin” or she tries to drown him again to get the answer she wanted. I don’t see why they would have her react the way she did without meaning to address it again.

6. Sticking to my initial prediction the show will end with Kevin and Nora together… with the addition they have a child (who, I guess, will be an adult if the end is a big flash forward)!

DanG

Nora enters the machine. It works and she finds herself in a resort hotel in Australia. She soon runs into Mark Linn-Baker who explains that the machine does work. But, through a strange error in the Space-time continuum, anyone entering the machine has arrive about 30 years too EARLY and must now wait for the Departed victims to arrive. Flash forward 30 years, a tired and dejected Nora feels the Departures should be arriving shortly. As she does, she looks up, into the sky to see a storm of nuclear missels about to land..

TrentC

All good predictions and I’m gonna go one large step further. The flashforward is actually 60 years in the future and Sarah Durst is the embittered child of Kevin and Nora.

*deep cut pull for Antonio – Back in the old television series Lassie, our hero rescued little Timmy who had fallen down into a well. Intelligent canines, missing people…a WELL??? Coincidence, I think not.

It makes me so sad to hear Josh talk about Lost and his disappointment over the finale. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the entirety of Lost with no expectations, no need for questions, and it was incredibly satisfying and the most amazing experience I’ve had watching a television show. I’m glad that Josh is going into this Leftovers finale with an open mind and I sincerely hope this finale is great just so Josh can be happy! Going to miss this show and this podcast when it ends. Thanks for everything.

TrentC

I hope the finale is three hours. I have a long attention span..

Andiamo

I can’t wait! I’m gonna bounce some last minute thoughts off you. I just rewatched the Nora/Sarah scene, and not only is Nora paid in leather straps, but her leather jacket is noticeably tattered and worn. I’m thinking leather must be a particularly valuable commodity wherever Nora is.

I actually don’t think it’s that crazy an idea that the leather straps could be dog collars (sorry Antonio.) In season 1, Kevin had the episode where he sleepwalked and woke up with a cut on his hand and a dog tied up in the backyard. Aimee told him that he said he wanted to rehabilitate the dogs (Kevin didn’t remember it because he was sleeping when he said it.)

Primal instincts have been a pretty major theme of the show, both human and animal. So perhaps while Nora is bird wrangling, Kevin is rehabilitating feral dogs? And symbolically and literally, together they are trying to control their own primitive desires to flee.

p.s. I think the fact that Grace lives on Pigeon Run road could be meaningful. Perhaps Nora/Sarah is wrangling pigeons while living on Grace’s property in the future. That and/or her property is the site of the Millerite village from episode one.

Any last minute thoughts/predictions?

TrentC

What if…dogs are related to a form of currency, or worse a food source? The leather straps or collars could be a method of barter.

I get the sense that in the Nora/Sarah scene were are seeing some sort of post – …..world. Post Kevin, Post nuke, Post second departure, Post drought (my favorite).

In that new world the pigeons and dogs may have a different value assigned to them. To me, the bundle of straps implied a currency system because Nora/Sarah had saved quite a few and looked to have made a special journey by bike to deliver/redeem them?

Grace still perplexes me. I won’t call her a Deus ex machina character, but she did arrive late and seems to be oh so important to the end game of the series. Hers is the place where everyone seems to have congregated at, so hopefully she’s part of a great resolution.

I’m a little like Josh. They have one episode to land this thing and I’m concerned there’s not enough time for a personally satisfying finale. Keep in mind that on another forum, I wrote a few thousand words on the BSG final season, pinpointing exactly where the writers had gone wrong. As if me> the writing talents of Ronald D. Moore lol!

One thing I love about The Leftovers is the fact that no matter what your predictions may be, the writers will 99% take it into a different left field than predicted and that’s just fine with me.

Andiamo

I think the straps could be a form of currency. Or at least they are valuable to Nora and maybe hard to come by. Maybe animals are scarce? Nora needs to tie something up though. Dogs? Maybe a sleepwalking Kevin?

Grace and David Burton are the two standing out to me as needing more explanation. I also think Michael must have something to say.
I don’t know how they’ll have time to pull it all together either. It feels like a rushed run to the finale.

I go back and forth between predicting things and letting them go so I can just enjoy the show. Knowing full well I’ll mostly be wrong. But unless the show goes completely off the rails, I have faith that I’ll be happy with however they end it.

Anyway, enjoy the show tonight!

DanG

a. no dogs (just goats)

b. In the words of Kevin: What?

TrentC

We were wrong…we have to go back…

I struck out on all counts and didn’t like it. See you in the finale recap show.

John Davis

Un Chien Analou. We gave up Fargo Season 3 for this regrettable farce. I am ashamed that I gave hours of my life to this show.
Wigler and Mazarro, reflect and evaluate your lives.

TrentC

Hi John, good to say hello.
Sometimes it’s hard to read the tone when speaking in text. Do I detect some dislike for the show? lol, I’m kidding.

I loved the show right up until the finale. I feel they Lost’ed the finale and most of the final season. Meaning, the episodes leading up to the end were fine, created new questions, and then were soundly ignored.

Liking the new season of Fargo. Wish you could have gotten more out The Leftovers. At times I thought it was brilliant.

Andiamo

It wasn’t quite Un Chien Andalou, but I agree they pulled some cheap shots at the end that felt a little like the creators laughing at the audience for trying to find meaning in the show. It didn’t destroy the show for me, but I didn’t love that.